CHIANG MAI: Thai police arrested 17 foreigners on Tuesday (Jul 1) who were allegedly part of a scam operation that cheated 100,000 Chinese victims of over US$14 million.
The police raided a luxury pool villa in Hang Dong district of Chiang Mai province that served as a base for the operations, said the Thai Provincial Police Region 5, which oversees the country’s northern provinces, in a Facebook post.
Thai nationals allegedly served as nominees in the purchase of the house to cover up the illegal scam activities, said Krittapon Yisakorn, Commander of Provincial Police Region 5, as reported by Thai news outlets.
Krittapon led a multi-agency task force that included officers from the Police Cyber Taskforce, Immigration Police, intelligence analysts and specialised equipment units in the raid, where 10 computers and 26 mobile phones were seized as evidence.
The foreigners nabbed were 15 Chinese nationals and two Myanmar citizens.
Initial investigations found that over 100,000 Chinese victims had fallen prey to the call-centre syndicate and lost over 100 million Chinese yuan (US$14 million), the Thai Provincial Police Region 5 said.
The alleged Chinese scammers were in Thailand on tourist and student visas, while the Myanmar nationals did not have immigration documents, the Thai government’s Public Relations Department said in a report on its website.
The 17 suspects have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the public and participation in organised crime, reported news site Khaosod.
According to local media reports, Tuesday’s raid followed investigations that found the scam network had expanded by purchasing or renting premises in housing estates, hotels and condominiums across northern Thailand.
